MUZAFFARABAD: As momentum builds for the forthcoming elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, major political forces are recalibrating their strategies to engage more directly with the region’s principal dissenting group, the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
During a recent trip to the region, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and his delegation held talks with senior local political figures, among them AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore. Meanwhile, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to arrive in Mirpur on Thursday to headline an election rally.
Beyond bolstering their respective campaigns, these visits are widely interpreted as an effort by the two leading parties to reassert themselves in AJK’s political landscape, which has been reshaped in recent months by JAAC-led protests demanding the elimination of reserved seats for refugees in the territorial assembly.
Bhutto-Zardari’s presence also overlapped with what had been described as a discreet channel of communication with the protest movement, involving a delegation headed by Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) Chairman Syed Qamar Raza that met JAAC representatives in Rawalakot on Wednesday.
Although authorities issued no formal comment on the encounter, Qamar acknowledged the interaction in a statement on Thursday, framing it as a personal initiative to urge the committee to abandon violence.
“As Chairman of the Overseas Pakistani Foundation, who has the welfare of the Pakistani diaspora at his heart, and mitigation of their concerns, whether real or imaginary, as my first priority, I made contact with JAAC in order to convince them to turn back from violence,” he said. The outreach occurred amid broader attempts to ease tensions following weeks of demonstrations and instability.
His remarks followed a public expression of gratitude from a JAAC leader, who credited Qamar and Field Marshal Asim Munir with acknowledging the grievances of Kashmir’s population.
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